Here’s a nice story. It turns out that Browns linebacker Eric Barton recently learned that his brother is Seahawks second-year linebacker Aaron Curry, and the two met for the first time last Sunday, which was also the first day that Barton met his biological mother, Chris Curry.

A source who knows tells us that Barton is the oldest of Ms. Curry’s four sons, and was given up for adoption as a baby. Curry is the youngest of the four, and the other two each played Division I football for some period of time.

Barton was able to contact is mother through the agency by which he was adopted, which is how he found out about Curry, with whom he arranged last Saturday’s reunion after several months of correspondence.

We also hear that Barton made it to practice in plenty of time yesterday morning after attending the Seahawks game in Oakland with his mom, which of course, is great.

Hopefully someone with a press credential can take a break from drummingupQB controversy to give us some more detail on another piece of uplifting news out of Brownstown. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

as reasonably well thought out as your angle here is, Pete, on Varejao, it bears no connection to Choo.

Here's one, though – primetime players who are used to winning don't want to play for a club that will likely lose a ton of games.

Here's another – guys used to having LeBron get it done for them might not feel up to the challenge of being a team's new superstars.

or this – Andy and JJ might not want to deal with the grind of being undersized 5's for extended minutes.

Alternatively – LeBron is setting a bad example and guys like Andy/JJ assume they'll never be successful unless they get onto a 'superteam'. Dan Gilbert being such a complete jerk to the guy whose self-interestedness (childishness?) cost DG probably half a billion dollars, is this also why CP3 and Melo, the best players on -their- respective teams, are also demanding to be moved?

I guess it's an angle though. As long as we're not, you know, hunting witches.

Believelander

Furthermore, admitting there were some things you 'would have done differently' is a bit different from admitting your mistake, which was in this case everything about everything in his free agency period.

Oh, and cool to see the Eric Barton/Aaron Curry thing. Not as cool seeing the Seahawks get beat down by the Raiders.

Brian Sipe

cool story about Barton… how did you find that Frown and yet PD has it no where?!

Chris

"If I had to go back on it, I probably would do it a little bit different…But I'm happy with the decision I made. There's always going to be a misunderstanding. I don't know what I would [have done], but I definitely would have changed it."

There's no misunderstanding at all, he's still an a**hole.

Frowns, don't mistake a falsely contrite statement aimed at quelling the hatred for him for admitting that he made a mistake. He obviously put no thought into this statement at all, or he may have decided to list even one thing that he would have done differently. I don't know, like not doing an hour long special.

Mikey

Hopefully someone with a press credential can take a break from drumming up QB controversy to give us some more detail on another piece of uplifting news out of Brownstown. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

i might add that among others, veterans joe thomas, eric wright and shaun rogers are playing poorly this year.

mangini's m o in new york, and the reason he was let go, is due to the fact that veterans cant take him for very long, and they don't play well for him.

its nice that the team is playing hard, but they dont appear to be playing well.

rob ryan will probably be offered a head coaching position next year, he would be ideal for jerry lones and the cowboys. i cannot image watching the browns with him gone and mangini running things. mangini is liable to bring in a new defensive coordinator as skilled and imaginative as his offensive coordinator.

i don't hate mangini, but i sure hope the browns get another coach next year. it makes no sense at all to me that a hall of fame coach like holmgren is on the payroll and mangini is coaching the team.

lets see if this gets published.

Chris

"it makes no sense at all to me that a hall of fame coach like holmgren is on the payroll and mangini is coaching the team."

So obviously Holmgren is blind to the pure idiocy that is Mangini coaching this team, and he cannot see what you see.

Or, you're wrong. I dunno.

Biki

Memphis obviously doesn't feel they will be contracted, they are spending some LOOT! congrats to fellow buckeye Mike Conley on getting PAID! 5 years, $45 million, and his pops is his agent, so it's all in the fam!

I think Memphis will be fighting for the 8th seed, they may need some help on the bench, but their starting 5 is as explosive as most teams in the leauge. if Marc Gasol and Randolph can stay healthy they should be right there around 7 or 8 seed all year.

Believelander

I am still not sure what Mangini has done wrong as a head coach, Tashka. Example of some mistake Mangini clearly made?

Brian Sipe

HA…. WKNR already starting "Holmgrem wants to coach next year" talk. In fact the call is question of the day is will Holmgren come back to coach.

GREAT! so that's what people take away from his conference

Art Brosef

@Brian Sipe – You cant expect anything from a pig but a grunt.

And goddamn Frowns, use some of that salt for some shots of tequila and get to your comp; cause evidently Cleveland needs some logic brought to the table after that Holmgreen presser.

Biki

of course people are going to take that away from the presser, how else would you interpret "..if i keep wearing a suit or not, we'll see"

i love the guy for being frank with us (although he was very coy with what he thinks we should do with Colt), but in this case him saying that could be construed as conduct detrimental to the team as it seems like he left Mangini out to dry.

or who knows, maybe this was his way of motivating the players to push even harder for Mangini… ??

Carl

I heard the Holmgren Press Conference, and it sure does sound like he wants to coach.

What was most interesting was how he all but said that he thought the Browns should have won a few of the games they lost.

Mangini drove Jet fans up the wall with his pattern of talking a lead in a game, and then losing it. Yes, it's adjustments and strategy that he's poor at. Like Romeo, he seems to have some sort of mental thing that requires him to stay the course when it's not working.

But I agree with the person above. It makes no sense to have Holmgren here and having him mentoring Mangini. What kind of crap is this?

When Mangini made his power play with Lerner to beat out Pioli for the job, he had Ernie Ascorsi sticking it in Lerner's ear that the coach was more important then the GM. So Mangini came here and was given every thing he wanted. He picked his GM. He picked his coaches. We know from watching the draft on ESPN that Mangini was running it for the Browns, because when the ESPN people contacted other teams, they were told that if you wanted to talk to the Browns, talk to Mangini….Kokinis was a GM in name only.

Carl

So what did we get….

1. A draft even worse then Phil Savages were.

2. A head coach that became dictator, and when Lerner finally had to step in after the Chicago game to halt the chaos and then bring in Holmgren, Mangini tells us that he appreciates Holmgren being there because "there is no continuing ed for head coaches".

Funny, this guy ran the entire operation, he was not just the head coach. How come Belichick, Parcells, Sean Peyton and others could coach without needing continuing ed? And if Mangini needed an experienced hand to guide him, why didn't he tell Lerner he wanted an experienced GM….or hire an experienced assistant head coach? He had the power. He wanted to be dictator!

No, Mangini is like Romeo, McDaniels and Charlie Weis….maybe a good coordinator, but not really a head coach – not in the way he/they lead people, and run games. They sure can teach technique and fundamentals, and that's necessary. But that's what assistant coaches are for.

Mangini surely has improved the team. But he doesn't play to win, he still plays not to lose. Ain't gonna work when the Ravens and Steelers are in your division.

Carl

Short of Mangini running the table or just losing one or two games for the remainder of the year, I can't see him returning in 2011. And I could surely live with either Holmgren or Rob Ryan running the team.

I don't know what it is about these expansion Browns. You're supposed to tank a season to find out if the QB you drafted "has it", and you have to bring in a President to train the head coach you hired….when the whole purpose in hiring him was that he was "experienced" and knew what needed to be done.

When does this organization simply focus on winning games and not wet-nursing coaches, QB's, offensive coordinators, and other coaches and players? If they can't do the job, get them out and bring in people that can. The Browns pay top wages, what's the problem?

Carl

Jason Cole was on Jim Rome today talking about the mess that Brad Childress has made of the Vikings.

He pointed out quite a few times that there is more to being a head coach in the NFL then being a PHD in football nuts-and-bolts. Cole kept saying that unlike any other sport he's covered, pro football players are "alpha males" that make their living in hand-to-hand-combat. It takes a special person to be a head coach over these men, and there is no one way of doing it.

Players don't play for a lot of head coaches, even if they respect their knowledge.

Having Holmgren and Rob Ryan here is helping Mangini much more then he's helping them.

Mangini needs to continue his career as a major college coach where the players simply have to do what he asks, or they don't play. No agents. No powerful teammates that influence the owner.

I see no reason that Mangini can't be as successful as another Belichick defensive guy – Nick Saben – who also proved to be so-so at best in the NFL although he did have his moments at times.

Chilly could wind up here as the offensive coordinator next year if Gil Haskell doesn't want to go onto the field.

Belichick has earned the right to make a bold move with a player like Moss because he has proved he can win without him. Even more, Belichick is smart enough to know how to work with troubled guys.

Early in his run with the Patriots, Belichick dealt with cornerback Ty Law, a player who would often walk out of meetings or even be disruptive. Former Patriots assistant coach Eric Mangini, who was Law’s position coach, used to come into Belichick’s office on a regular basis and tell Belichick that Law needed to be cut.

Belichick, who also was the defensive coordinator with the New York Giants during Lawrence Taylor’s heyday, would politely remind Mangini of one simple thing: Law was one of the main reasons the Patriots won on most Sundays.____________

Or as Sam Ritigliano says….

"Anyone can coach the Clay Matthews. NFL Coaches get paid to coach the Chip Banks."

Surely Holmlgren knew this long ago.

Chris

First of all, Mangini hired Rob Ryan when no one else really wanted him, then turned him into a marketable commodity.

Secondly, Brad Childress is a shitty coach, and that much is indisputable. But to say that Randy Moss isn't an asshole, and didn't deserve to be cut after:

b) He completely dumped on the entire organization in front of every press outlet available after the New England game, then verbally fellated Belichick and the rest of New England after he quit during the game.

…is completely asinine.

Randy Moss wanted to be cut, and he got his wish. Once he clears waivers, and all 32 teams pass on him (with the possible exception of Oakland, because Al Davis is crazy), he may be done in the NFL.

If Brad Childress is fired in Minnesota and hired immediately in Cleveland, I will officially write off this organization.

Carl, I'm not sure how you fail to recognize that incredible year over year improvement has taken place with the Browns, and that they are in the second year of a colossal rebuild that had to take place. Or how you fail to understand that the Browns strength of schedule is in the top 10, but they continue to be in every game, despite lacking any passing game at all.

I'm really not sure what you expect of this team, besides the improved quality of football this team has shown us this season. If you think "2 seasons and out" is the way to run a professional football team, you are completely lost.

Brian Sipe

Carl you are nuts…. Go cheer for Buffalo!

Biki

@Chris, LOL, you really think Randy is not going to get picked up tomorrow???? Who knows where, but he will certainly be picked up and unless it's a team on a bye week, he will be playing this Sunday.

Cleveland Frowns

Brosef: Don't worry, man, we'll be all over it in the AM.

Tashka: it's understood that you find it difficult to read, but thanks for clarifying.

If you want to explain why any specific argument is unsupported here, we'll be glad to hear it. Otherwise your broad baseless swipes are noted for what they are.

Carl: Still want to know 1) how you can be so sure the Jets would be worse off had they kept Mangini, and 2) how you think it's a good idea to fire a head coach with a resume like his before he's had a chance to work with anything but substandard talent, and when what he's working with continues to show consistent improvement.

For someone who likes to think of himself as better than the knee-jerk hoopleheads at cleveland.com, it sure sounds funny.

Cleveland Frowns

Believer, at least LeBron admits he did something wrong with the whole thing. Otherwise, not understanding your point(s?) here.

Cleveland Frowns

Carl:

"Mangini seems to have some sort of mental thing."

"Mangini made power plays."

"The team is surely improving under him."

But let's fire him. Brilliant.

And let's make Rob Ryan head coach.

Even better.

I mean, I'm sure Bud Shaw or Pluto won't be able to resist stealing these gems. Carl will have been had again.

What a world.

Art Brosef

Frowner youre correct that in this case, LBJ has made at least somewhat an acknowledgement that he may have erred along the way.

But to say that "LBJ admits mistakes and Gilbert doesnt" paints with too broad of a brush. Im sure there are plenty of mistakes Gilbert would admit too. He just happens to think his letter wasnt one. Its understood you dont have to agree, but plenty of Cavs fans do.

Cleveland Frowns

Just remembered that I can delete Tashka's comments if I want to.

Ooooh-wee, what a world.

Hey, Tash. If I'm so wrong about everything, you should start a blog about it. I'm sure if it made any sense, you'd be able to grow a readership. And nobody will be able to delete your comments there. Think of all the fun you could have.

Brian Sipe

Pluto got Manginis back fast in his article

Cleveland Frowns

Brosef: You could say a lot of things about "plenty of Cavs fans."

I'd be interested to know if Gilbert has ever admitted he was wrong about anything.

Carl

I don't think "firing" Mangini is the issue.

I think that bringing in a quality head coach that can win close ballgames is 12 years overdue.

Mangini is the best head coach the Browns have had since they came back. But we're talking Chris Palmer, Butch Davis and Romeo Cranell, so what's that say?

Mangini is a .500 coach that can sneak into the playoffs one out of every three or four years and will get dumped (and out coached) in the first round.

It's kind of funny how some here dismiss Kevin Kolb as not being a winner – most did it after he had 2 quarters of play as a starter this year – yet the same people will pine for a guy that has an NFL winning percentage of under .500 in his 5th year of coaching….and unlike Kolb, they'll have dozens of excuses for why that is.

To me the season was over after the first 2 games. It was obvious to me (and at least a million others in NE Ohio) that the Browns should have won both games (Bucs and Chiefs…and I don't care how much better they are this year…the Browns roster was upgraded more then theirs were). My guess is that Mike Holmgren feels the same way.

Since we always do the what-if thing about how the Browns would have won…but…..how about if the Browns had actually won the first two games and were now sitting at 4-3 with at least 6 winnable games remaining. There would be excitement in this town and people wouldn't talk about tanking the more then 50% of the schedule remaining to see if the Browns need another QB next year.

People like to talk about how hard the Browns are playing. Sure – for the special teams coordinator and the defensive coordinator. The offense is one of the worst in the NFL for the second year. The Browns don't even bother throwing long passes to threaten the defense anymore – everything is mid-range at best. The ballyhooed wildcat offense has been a total dud.

I don't think Mike Holmgren is going to watch this for another year. The one thing about Rob Ryan is that he believes in his people and is willing to gamble with them. I think he would install an offense as exciting as the ones the Steelers and Ravens have. I mean, it's nice to see Hillis plow ahead and get 4 yards for a 1st down, but it would be nice to see a guy break a run for more then 20 yards once or twice a game.

The priority needs to be on WINNING!

Malcolm Mathers

C'mon Frowns, don't pull the "if you don't agree with me start your own blog", it's beneath you. That being said, there has been no evidence to any veterans not respecting and playing hard for Mangini in Cleveland. Holmgren isn't stupid.

By the way Frownie, check out the part of Holmgren's presser when he say's that playing the young QB even though he doesn't give you the best chance to win is "crummy" Looks like your getting your wish.

Art Brosef

You could say a lot of things about a lot of groups of people.

Id be interested too. But my guess is you dont become successful in any sort of venture without admitting mistakes along the way. To your point maybe he just hasnt carried that mindset over to his ownership of the Cavs (yet).

My point was that for you to say one admits mistakes and one doesnt is a broad generalization based on one specific instance to satisfy your already established opinion.

Cleveland Frowns

Brosef: I'd ask you to recognize a little hyperbole for what it is.

Mathers: Don't tell other people what's beneath them. It's beneath you. It wasn't just a matter of disagreement. Tashka questioned the integrity of this website. If he's really so bothered by it, the best relief for him will be for him to put arguments of more integrity somewhere else. If they make more sense, people will go away from here to there.

Carl: Fire Mangini because the Browns lost to the Bucs and Chiefs? Mangini's fault that the team gave away 13 point swings in each of those games with INTs, fumbles, and missed field goals?

Not sure how many times I can say it, but you can't blame the coach for not having playmakers at his disposal. Where are the playmakers here?

Also, people really need to cool it on Kevin Kolb. I didn't want to trade a second-round pick for him at a point when he hadn't won a single meaningful NFL game. Since then he's had at least one good game in a win. That's great and all, and maybe I'll end up being wrong about Kolb, but still not sure what he'd be able to do here with this bunch.

Carl

Brosef: You could say a lot of things about "plenty of Cavs fans."

I'd be interested to know if Gilbert has ever admitted he was wrong about anything.________________

Has Jerry Jones admitted he was wrong about Bum Phillips? Packman Jones?

Has any owner in any team sport come out and said he was wrong for something he publicly had said or done in the past? Name me a few examples.

So Dan Gilbert is evil and lebron James is wonderful. Sure. Are you buying James commercial where he says, "we had some good times together", in reference to NE Ohio fans? Funny, he didn't say anything like that up until Nike hired a top notch advertising firm that wrote it in a script for him and showed him storyboards on how it would be used to make him look good.

But most importantly, I don't see where Dan Gilbert did anything "wrong" that he has to square away with the fans.

How come you don't grill Randy Lerner for making a total mess of the Browns franchise for years, and he didn't do a thing about it until it was so out of control the the NFL commissioner had to intervene?

Did you see Wojo's article in Yahoo sports a few weeks ago. Funny that you didn't refer to this -

When LeBron James was running roughshod over the Cleveland Cavaliers, it became common for him to respond to tough coaching and differing degrees of conflict with the sheer shutdown mode. There goes LeBron, stomping off to the locker room with a staff member in hot pursuit to talk him back into practice. Come on back, King. We need you.

James would mope back onto the floor, reluctant to be told that someone disagreed with his belief on a matter.

Yeah, a real prince.

Chris

"…the Browns should have won both games (Bucs and Chiefs…and I don't care how much better they are this year."

"I don't care that the Bucs are 5-2, leading their division, and that the Chiefs are 5-2 leading theirs."

Brilliant.

Cleveland Frowns

Post on Holmgren's press conference coming shortly.

Cleveland Frowns

Also, one of the dumbest things in the world that folks say about Mangini is that "he's a coach who can't win the close games."

With this logic, you could never tell the difference between a Coach who keeps his team in close games despite the talent on his roster, and a "coach who can't win close games."

With this logic, you can make up whatever you'd like.

You're really on fire, Carl. Shaw and Pluto won't have to come up with any original material for months now.

jimkanicki

count me with those who think you're over-the-top w.r.t. dan gilbert. (i think the term is 'murder boner?')

do remember how he addressed his letter: "Dear Cleveland, all of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers supporters wherever you may be tonight.." i take him at his word that this was his intended audience and i did (and do) appreciate courage it took to address his patrons with emotion and candor. the idea that he scared off free agents is just laughable… you mean we won't be able to overpay for larry hughes again?

interested in your take on holmgren's press conference.

Cleveland Frowns

Since so many others are so over the top about LeBron, there's really only one thing for me to do.

"Scumbag lawyer . . . . I will NEVER give that guy a moment of airtime. He is walking slime. I've had enough indirect contact w/him to know better. . . . Just to clarify for those wondering: I blocked the clown on Twitter about 2 years ago, so I can't see the lies he's tweeting." -- Bob Frantz, WTAM 1100

"Peter over at Cleveland Frowns has a passionate post about Manny Ramirez and the Hall of Fame, and it made me think about Lyndon Johnson." --Posnanski

"Nothing sums up the Cavaliers' 2009-2010 season better than curses, Photoshops and year-and-a-half old wagers. It also kind of sums up why Cleveland Frowns is always worth a read." -- Dan Labbe, Cleveland.com

"I want to provide a bit of balance to this Lerner love-in. . . . Browns fans aren't so enamoured with him. Here's a very funny blog that explains where many of them are coming from." -- Matt Slater, BBC

"Pete puts together what seems to me a cogent response and an argument that Mangini is not being given a fair shot. I admire that argument a lot." -- Posnanski

"Although someone purporting to be Mr. Thurman satisfactorily answered our researcher's questions prior to the letter's inclusion in our magazine, further research reveals the letter to be fraudulent. . . . Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is clear that the Cleveland Frowns also have great respect for our letters section . . ." -- Sports Illustrated Letters Department

"If you can't trust the word of some Cleveland blogger who saw some letter to the editor from some guy who says he saw Lebron's agent on TV claiming that there was a misunderstanding and Lebron sent more money to clear it up, who can you trust?" -- Deadspin Commenter, BingoLong